Love is Dead
by Writer's Block Artist
Summary: Angst. She loves him, but then He loves someone else. RikuXKairi


Writer's Block Artist: Ok so I should've finished this in March and we see how well that worked out. I actually started and finished my poem Heartache while this was in progress. But I'm just weird that way. And now I have four other fanfics to upload. All finished, just not digitalized. Still in my notebook. My Writer's Block disappears in bursts and than gradually comes back, but I'll make the most out of my freedom while I can. :3 Actually, most of my Writer's Block is just laziness.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Kingdom Hearts, even though sometimes I wish I did.. I'd be a helluva lot better off, that's for sure. All I own is Melody. Thankies to Holly for the most awesomeness title!

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The definition of pain: knowing that you love someone, and knowing that it's too late—they love another.

And so we come to the end of this story—or is it the beginning?—and see that, through it all, she really did love her best friend. But sadly, he was with another; romantic and all that. True, there was still Sora, but Kairi just didn't feel the same for him as she did for Riku.

Onto the subject of Riku.

She broke his heart, or what was left of it at the time. He gave himself to Darkness for _her_. He fought his best friend to save _her_. And what did she do? Run off with Sora. By then, he was only hanging on to that last ray of Light just to see her every day, conscious or not. When she left, he let the Darkness consume him.

He didn't blame Sora. He didn't blame Kairi, how could he? All he had to blame was himself. And so throughout the next year he served his time. He fought Heartless and Nobodies alike, doing anything that would help the King and hinder the Villains and Organization XIII. Anything to wake Sora up.

Anything to make her safe.

Back in that god-forsaken castle in the mock-card-world of Destiny Islands, it nearly broke him. Seeing Kairi disappear before his eyes was almost too much. It was then that he had vowed, even if she would never truly be his, he would make sure that no harm would come to her ever again, at least under his watch.

He had traveled back to the Islands occasionally, to check on her. She seemed to be faring well, and as she forgot Sora, the urge to reveal himself to her became stronger every day. Upon DiZ's advice, he stopped visiting his home.

It was June then, and his sole focus was to find Roxas before the Organization did. He still thought about Kairi, but it didn't pain him as much. When he first fought the blonde-haired Nobody, he lost. Roxas had reminded him too much of Sora. After Riku let the Darkness consume him for the second and last time in his life, it was a piece of cake to drag the unconscious Nobody into the waiting arms of the former ruler of Radiant Garden.

The months went by without interruption; Sora woke up and left Twilight Town in search of Kairi. After that, Riku went in search of King Mickey. He found the Mouse, and together they joined the others in the end, Riku regaining his body and helping Sora finish off Xemnas. When he and Sora returned to Destiny Islands, it didn't take long for Sora to pluck up the courage for that first kiss with Kairi. She seemed happy, so Riku didn't say anything to her. If she knew how much it hurt him, it would only end up hurting her.

So he kept a smile on, just for her.

A few months had passed before the trio received any contact from outside worlds when suddenly one day a Gummi ship arrived bearing Cid, Leon, Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Yuffie. There wasn't any trouble brewing yet, they'd said, but the Proofs of Existence of Organization XIII had disappeared.

"It may be a false alarm," Leon had said, "but it should be good to get some training in nonetheless."

So the group traveled back and forth between the Islands and Radiant Garden, training in specific scenarios, fighting computerized enemies and each other. Sora and Riku both gave Kairi private tutoring on attacks, magic, and strategy, since she was lacking in all three. At first, when she had approached them with the idea, they were instantly both against her fighting at all. But common sense and practicality were on Kairi's side; eventually she won. Her counterarguments were "I don't want to be the damsel in distress again!" and "Having one more person on your team wont hurt, but me waiting her won't help". Yuffie had a laugh at the "damsel in distress" bit—the idea was foreign to her. Another advantage on Kairi's side was that she was a Keybearer. Should the group ever need to separate to cover more ground, there were now three Keybearers—four, counting the King—to split off into three, or four, groups should the case ever arise where separate groups would be needed.

Now, Riku had never met any of the otherworlders from Radiant Garden before. Out of all of them, it seemed that cloud and Leon were most like himself. Sora was chummy with everyone because he was… well, Sora. Kairi seemed to get along with Aerith more so than Yuffie, just because the ninja seemed too spunky and hyper to have much in common with Kairi.

When it came to Yuffie, Riku felt the most acceptance around her. It wasn't that the others _didn't_ accept him, but that whenever he was around her, he felt like he was home. After about two weeks of training and traveling between worlds, he started to notice her on the sidelines, watching him train. She started sitting next to him at mealtimes, and eventually started training with him.

On one such occasion, on the Islands, Riku and Yuffie were sparring on the beach. They were evenly matched, and the fight lasted a long time. It ended with Yuffie popping up behind Riku and holding her Shuriken to his neck.

"All right," he huffed, dismissing Way to Dawn. "You win."

"You know, I'm starting to think you're _letting_ me win!" She grinned as her Shuriken disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I am not…" he grumbled, turning around to face her.

"Right." _Splash._ Now he had salt water in his mouth. So of course, he splashed back.

Their water fight lasted for about five minutes when all of a sudden Yuffie disappeared in a puff of smoke, ninja style. He whipped around a few times, searching for where she might appear next. He looked up when he heard a giggle above his head. She was sitting on the Paupu tree. She smiled, beckoning him to sit next to her. He climbed onto the peninsula and jumped up onto the horizontal palm tree.

They sat there for a while, watching the sky continue to change hues from blue, to gold, to orange, to red, to lavender. Riku didn't know how much time had passed but the sun was just dipping beneath that last wave when he started to say something, stopping short when Yuffie started to speak also. She stopped, but he motioned her to continue.

She sighed. "I… really don't know how to say this, but…" she paused and looked down at her hands, which were twisting and clenching together in anxiety. "I… really like you, as more than a friend. And… I want to know… if you feel the same way." She turned to look at him, but averted her gaze when he chuckled.

"Yuffie." No answer. "Yuffie, I'm sorry." He placed a finger under her chin and turned her to face him. "I laughed because I was about to say the same thing."

She looked up at him. "Really?" He nodded, hugging her. She leaned into his hug and kissed him on the cheek.

Now, I'm sure you already know Kairi's story. If not, you'll need to find either Kairi herself or Naminé to tell you her story. I'm here to tell you what happens _after_ general knowledge.

And so Kairi receives her tutoring from her best friend and her lover. At first, they had to go extremely easy on her, but she learned quickly. Before long, it was _she_ who needed to go easy on them as she tapped into her natural power as a Princess of Heart. In no time at all she was clearly one of the most useful members in their large party.

Sora and Kairi continued to grow closer, as did Riku and Yuffie.

The months passed, battles ensued as the group traveled to more worlds and found them in much more chaos then when they had left them. Rumors of a new enemy circulated. Others said it was the Organization themselves who were back to life, more terrible than ever before. Neither story was confirmed until they saw with their own eyes, or heard from a trusted source. They met up with King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy on their return trip to Radiant Garden. Mickey was surprised and delighted to hear of Kairi's powers as a Princess of Heart. He gave them news of his findings with the rumors that had been circulating.

Organization XIII was back, alive and hearts beating, with the exception of Roxas and the runaway, but alive, Axel. When Ansem the Wise destroyed Kingdom Hearts, the lost hearts of many Nobodies returned to their owners, including the Organization. Now the Villains and Organization XIII had joined together with some new faces and had formed an ever-growing army of Heartless and whatever Nobodies that may have been created since the destruction of Kingdom Hearts. Their conquest: eliminate the Light for good so Darkness would be able to reign freely.

So, in their effort to stop them, Sora and the others had given the Organization exactly what they'd dreamed of achieving for over a decade. The Nobodies had reclaimed their Hearts.

Oh, the irony.

Yet, in the midst of chaos, life goes on.

Riku and Yuffie started spending all of their time together—the battles were getting rougher, enemies stronger, wounds worse. Sora and Kairi did the same, as did Cloud and Tifa, Leon and Aerith.

Whenever the young couples were together, they felt a twinge of guilt, feeling sorry for those who were without their significant other, such as Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. Minnie, Daisy, and Clarabelle waited anxiously for each return, no matter how brief it might be.

Being with each other every possible minute, waking and sleeping, benefited Riku and Yuffie—they fell more and more for each other every day and night. They grew stronger, and were, together. It seemed as if it was the same for Sora and Kairi, and it was. For a while.

Kairi felt as if she was growing up, changing, and she sensed Sora was too. But it didn't feel as if they were changing in the same directions. True, they still cared deeply for each other, but it didn't feel like love to her anymore. Just a very close friendship. She came to him one night and told him of her feelings. To her surprise, he'd felt the same way. They talked it over, and decided that it was best to stay what they'd always been.

So the days went by, and every time she saw Riku, her heart skipped a beat. She watched as he and Yuffie fell more and more in love with each other. Every time she saw them, she wished he was holding her instead of Yuffie.

She hated herself for it.

She hated that she couldn't stop herself from falling for Riku, even though he obviously loved Yuffie. She hated that she didn't see it so long ago when it was her that he'd loved. She hated that she couldn't be strong enough to forget him and move on.

Weeks passed. Now, instead of the feeling of elation whenever she saw Riku, it was depression. She tried avoiding him, but that just made it worse. She couldn't be around him—it made her insane—but she couldn't _not_ be around him, either. She was happy for Riku, that he had found someone to love, but she herself couldn't be happy.

A few more days had passed, and the sundown found Kairi on a balcony of Disney Castle. The sky was partly cloudy, partly raining. As she stared off into the mist, she heard a footstep behind her. She turned and saw, to her despair, Riku. She quickly turned back, facing away from him.

"I've been meaning to talk to you," Riku said, "but you keep avoiding me.

"I've noticed that you've been down lately, and I wanted to know what was wrong, and if you were ok."

She nodded, not saying anything, nor turning around. He walked up next to her, leaning on the rail. "Well? What's wrong?" he asked.

She sighed. "I… I don't know how to say this…"

"You can tell me, it's ok," he coaxed.

Her hands trembled and a single tear rolled down her cheek. She took a deep breath and turned to face him. "I… I'm in love with you." One look at his face was enough. She turned away again, ashamed at what she'd said.

Silence.

"I'm sorry, Kairi."

"Don't be. It's not your fault that I was too stupid to see that you felt this way about me a long time ago." Her voice broke. "I-I mean, how could I n-not see it? And now—"

"I love Yuffie. I'm truly sorry for you, Kairi, but I don't love you like that anymore. I got over loving you. And I'm sure you'll get over this, too. It'll just take some time," he said.

"I can't. I've tried getting over you! All I can think about is you! Awake or not, you're all I see!" she cried, more tears falling, slowly, one by one.

"You'll get over me in time, Kairi. You'll see." And he walked away.

It was as if the sky had been holding its tears just as Kairi had. Once he'd left, they both let them run freely.

There's a poem called Heartache that fits this ending, at least the last stanza.

"Fall turns to Winter  
The skies turn grey  
And so do I.  
They open up as  
I start to cry."

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WBA: Ok so... R&R pweese! I should have my other four uploaded at the very latest by next sunday evening.

Lotsa Love,

Jen :3


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